…Challenges President To Identify, Prosecute Sponsors
A Nigerian born American soldier, Vitalis Nwanyanwu (Nwege) has
challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to identify and prosecute the
sponsors of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, saying until the president
mustered the strength to do so, the insurgency would linger on for
longer time.
Addressing newsmen in Owerri, the Imo State capital, Nwanyanwu, a
serving American Captain who won a commendation of the American
government during Ronald Regan’s administration for saving the
American Embassy from being invaded by Libyan soldiers in Lagos,
Nigeria, described the issue of insurgency in the country as a
national embarrassment.
“First the issue of insurgency, Boko Haram, in the country is a
national embarrassment. This is a country that has not only defended
our geographical territorial security before; this is a country that
boasts of superb strategic defence, this a country that had exported
its military personnel to defend other African countries up to Kosovo.
How come the military of the giant of Africa cannot defend the country
against a common, hopeless rag wearing Boko Haram?” he queried.
Believing that there was more to the insurgency than meets the eye,
the captain who sustained injury during the America-Iraqi war, said
that the Islamic sect had infiltrated the nation’s strategic defence
mechanism.
The Captain who accused the leadership of the Army of not only being
aware of those behind Boko Haram, he said that they were also involved
in the insurgency.
“We need to reorient the people we are recruiting into the military,
do what is called soul searching within the leaders in the military.
If I am appointed today to be the spokesman for the Nigeria Army, I
will have a lot to contribute. This issue called Boko Haram cannot
last for six months, because we know what caused it. Those behind the
insurgency and who their financier are well known to the military
hierarchy”, he said.
He attributed corruption as one of the things responsible for
continued insurgency, adding that tribalism, mismanagement and
favoritism must stop if the sect is to be eradicated.
According to him the financiers are both within and outside Nigerian territory.
Nwanyanwu who said he was a corporal in the Nigerian Police Force
before joining the United States military, also called on the police
authorities to recruit only those with first degree to stop the
corruption going on in the force.
He said also that President Buhari started well when he assumed
office, but regretted that his recent appointment portrayed him as a
president who is on a mission to alienate some sections of the country
especially the South East region.
“He came in with good hope with change, but he deviated by trying to
abandon the federal character in his appointments, this is not good.
He is not a president of any zone but president of Nigeria and all his
appointments should represent him as president of nobody but for
everybody.”
